n gave way, and King Magnus first cleared that ship, and then
the rest, one after the other. Svein fled, with a great part of his
people; but many fell, and many got life and peace. Thiodolf tells of
this:--

"Brave Magnus, from the stern springing
On to the stem, where swords were ringing
From his sea-raven's beak of gold
Deals death around--the brave! the bold!
The earl's housemen now begin
To shrink and fall: their ranks grow thin--
The king's luck thrives--their decks are cleared,
Of fighting men no more appeared.
The earl's ships are driven to flight,
Before the king would stop the fight:
The gold-distributor first then
Gave quarters to the vanquished men."

This battle was fought on the last Sunday before Yule. So says
Thiodolf:--

"'Twas on a Sunday morning bright,
Fell out this great and bloody fight,
When men were arming, fighting, dying,
Or on the red decks wounded lying.
And many a man, foredoomed to die,
To save his life o'erboard did fly,
But sank; for swimming could not save,
And dead men rolled in every wave."

Magnus took seven ships from Svein's people. So says Thiodolf:--

"Thick Olaf's son seven vessels cleared,
And with his fleet the prizes steered.
The Norway girls will not be sad
To hear such news--each from her lad."

He also sings:--

"The captured men will grieve the most
Svein and their comrades to have lost;
For it went ill with those who fled,
Their wounded had no easy bed.
A heavy storm that very night
O'ertook them flying from the fight;
And skulls and bones are tumbling round,
Under the sea, on sandy ground."

Svein fled immediately by night to Seeland, with the men who had escaped
and were inclined to follow him; but King Magnus brought his ships to
the shore, and sent his men up the country in the night-time, and early
in the morning they came flown to the strand with a great booty in
cattle. Thiodolf tells about it:--

"But yesterday with heavy stones
We crushed their skulls, and broke their bones,
And thinned their ranks; and now to-day
Up through their land we've ta'en our way,
And driven their cattle to the shore,
And filled out ships with food in store.
To save his land from our quick swords,
Svein will need something more than words."

32. SVEIN'S FLIGH